Grant County infant's death may have been accidental

SILVER CITY - The death of an eight-month old baby boy on April 23 has been classified as undetermined by the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.

The call came in at 9:36 a.m. April 23 as a request for an ambulance to Camino Tolteca, south of Silver City off Highway 90. Emergency responders began trying to resuscitate the child and he was transported to Gila Regional Medical Center, where resuscitative attempts continued until he was pronounced dead at 10:21 that morning.

The exact circumstances of the infant's death are unclear, according to the autopsy report released by the Office of the Medical Investigator.

According to the report, the infant's mother last saw him alive in the early morning hours of April 23 and found him unresponsive later that morning.

"By one account, his mother woke to find him unresponsive in the bed they shared," the report states, "By another, the mother dropped him, fell on him, and awoke later to find him unresponsive."

The infant had minor scalp injuries, but those were not the cause of his death, and no skull fractures were found, according to the report.

The report says if the child were dropped, that would explain the scalp injuries, and while not the cause of death, the injuries were "concerning in a child not old enough to walk on his own."

The report says that the infant could have been positioned in such a way, "either by bedding or his mother's body, that he was unable to breathe properly.

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The infant had traces of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, in his system, but there was no evidence of overdose of this drug.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office is still considering the case under investigation, said Lt. Michael Aguirre. He said the department had not yet received the autopsy report and that charges could still be pending in the case.